Archive By Section - Prep football columns

At the end of week 10, all Hall County teams have played nine games and had a bye week. Region 8-AAA teams Gainesville and Johnson have play-in games, with Gainesville at White County for the region title and the top seed in the Class AAA playoffs. Johnson plays Stephens County and if the Knights win, they become a No. 4 seed.

I'd really like to hear from the fans as to where they stand on this region play-in format for high school football in Region 8-AAA and 8-AA now that we're almost done with the regular season. Personally, I still can't decide where I come down on the issue.

I watched Johnson play Oconee County last Friday night and I want to share with you some of my observations. I have known for a number of years, that the Knights had fewer players on their squad than their opponents.

Flowery Branch High and Gainesville High continue to perform at a championship level, the only loss between them was the Red Elephants' loss to Class AA's then top-ranked Buford in the first game of the season. Gainesville is significantly better than they were then as their freshman quarterback Deshaun Watson shows improvement each week.

With all the great accomplishments in Flowery Branch High's relatively short history playing football, this season may end up taking the cake. This year, the Falcons are off to their first 7-0 start in school history, despite having a new signal caller after the last of the remarkably-talented Shaws graduated, a new running back after last year's star running back moved to North Hall, and moving up a classification in competition.